1. Tbet is a critical modulator of FoxP3 expression in autoimmune graft-versus-host disease
- Author
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Shoba Amarnath, Arian Laurence, Nathaniel Zhu, Renato Cunha, Michael A. Eckhaus, Samuel Taylor, Jason E. Foley, Monalisa Ghosh, Tania C. Felizardo, and Daniel H. Fowler
- Subjects
Diseases of the blood and blood-forming organs ,RC633-647.5 - Abstract
CD4+ T-helper subsets drive autoimmune chronic graft-versus-host disease, a major complication after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation. However, it remains unclear how specific T-helper subsets contribute to chronic graft-versus-host disease. T-helper type 1 cells are one of the major disease-mediating T-cell subsets and require interferon-γ signaling and Tbet expression for their function. Regulatory T cells on the other hand can inhibit T-helper type 1 cell-mediated responses. Using an established murine model that isolates the autoimmune component of graft-versus-host disease, we hypothesized that T-helper type 1 cells would restrict FoxP3-driven regulatory T cells. Upon transfer into immune-deficient syngeneic hosts, alloreactive Tbx21−/−CD4+ T cells led to marked increases in FoxP3+ cells and reduced clinical evidence of autoimmunity. To evaluate whether peripheral induction contributed to regulatory T-cell predominance, we adoptively transferred Tbx21−/− T cells that consisted of fate mapping for FoxP3: recipients of flow-purified effector cells that were Foxp3− and Tbx21−/− had enhanced T-regulatory-cell predominance during autoimmune graft-versus-host disease. These data directly demonstrated that peripheral T-regulatory-cell induction was inhibited by Tbet. Finally, Tbx21−/− T-regulatory cells cross-regulated autoimmune wild-type T-effector-cell cytokine production in vivo. The Tbet pathway therefore directly impairs T-regulatory-cell reconstitution and is consequently a feasible target in efforts to prevent autoimmune graft-versus-host disease.
- Published
- 2017
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